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Standing Rock

The thousands of water protectors and their supporters camping by the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation scored a major victory on Sunday, December 4, when the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said it wouldn't grant a permit to builders of the planned Dakota Access Pipeline to drill under the Missouri River.

The announcement, a significant milestone in the effort to compel the government to recognize Native sovereignty over tribal lands, came one day before a deadline given to protesters to clear out of the camps they had constructed to oppose construction of the pipeline. Throughout the previous week, thousands of people had arrived to protect the camp from any attempt by law enforcement to uproot it.

Questions remain about what will happen next. The Army Corps has said it will consider an alternative route, and President-elect Donald Trump favors completion of the pipeline project. But for now, the pipeline is stopped, giving protesters time to continue their organizing efforts.

Here, we publish eyewitness accounts by contributors to SocialistWorker.org from New York City—Leia Petty, Edna Bonhomme, Emily Brooks, Sumaya Awad and Dorian Bon—who traveled to North Dakota for this weekend to show solidarity with the #NoDAPL struggle.Read more

Energy Transfers Partners is racing to finish the Dakota Access Pipeline. DAPL aims to complete as much of the pipeline as possible before their permits expire at the end of the year and the depth of winter comes. But no permitting has yet been issued to cross under the Missouri river at Lake Oahe in North Dakota and this has become a pressure point for the struggle. Last week, water protectors set up a new encampment, the 1851 Treaty Camp, right in the pipeline’s path to block construction. The level of repression that was unleashed on water protectors, and protestors, has been unheard of since the Occupy movement was crushed and the National Guard and police attacked Black Lives Matter protestors in Baltimore and Ferguson. In fact the level of violence has been much more extreme. Over 300 police officers in riot gear, 8 ATVs, 5 armored vehicles, 2 helicopters, and numerous military-grade humvees showed up to crush the resistance as they pushed them back to the main camps. 40 people were injured as crowd control sound drives, bean bags, rubber bullets, and batons were used against Native Americans and others in solidarity who are just trying to insure safe drinking water for future generations. The police and national guard showed their true colors in protecting oil corporations and not ordinary people. Some 141 people were arrested last week alone, 43 of them with felony charges. In the last couple weeks, hundreds of protectors have been arrested. Given the escalating level of repression and the resistance of water protectors, solidarity with Standing Rock also continues to grow! Below are ways you can help build solidarity with these efforts.Read more